Queen’s former frontman Freddie Mercury uttered two words to Sid Vicious from the Sex Pistols back in 1977, almost causing a fight to break out.
During their heyday, the Sex Pistols were notorious for attempting to shut down established artists and they soon had the Bohemian Rhapsody hitmakers on their radar.
The two bands once found themselves at the same recording studio, Wessex Sound Studios, North London where they were both working on upcoming tracks for their respective bands.
With the Sex Pistols in one studio, Queen were in the next and their roadie Peter Hince claims that Sid struck up the idea to confront Mercury and his pals.
Queen legend Freddie Mercury was never one to mince his words (Image: Redferns)
Revealing all in his memoirs, Queen Unseen, Peter said: “Sid Vicious stumbled in, the worse for wear, and addressed Fred: ‘Have you succeeded in bringing ballet to the masses yet?'”
However, not one to be intimidated, Freddie took everybody surprise.
“Fred casually got up, walked over to him and jibed: ‘Aren’t you Stanley Ferocious or something?’,” added Hince.
Freddie’s comment to Sid saw the tension in the room soon escalate (Image: Getty Images)
The two words Stanley Ferocious were enough to anger the Sex Pistols star but Freddie took matters into his own hands, with Hince going on to say: “[He] took him by the collar and threw him out.”
Speaking about the incident during an interview, Freddie said: “I called him Simon Ferocious or something, and he didn’t like it at all.
“I said, ‘What are you going to do about it?'”
Since his death, Freddie has been hailed one of the greatest rockstars of all time (Image: Getty Images)
The star added: “He was very well marked. I said, ‘Make sure you scratch yourself in the mirror properly today, and tomorrow you’re going to get something else.’
“He hated the fact that I could even speak like that. I think we survived that test.”
Sadly, Sid died of a drug overdose in 1979 at home in Greenwich Village, New York. At the time of his death, it was claimed that no New York funeral home was willing to take on his funeral due to his reputation.
Freddie developed AIDS and was diagnosed in 1987 but chose to keep his diagnosis private.
He later died on November 24th, 1991 from bronchopneumonia, made more complicated by AIDS.
Source: Celebrities - dailystar.co.uk
